WHAT HAPPENED IN PAPHOS
I found two Orthodox sites - one of them Rumanian - that carry the English text of the final statement issued by the Mixed International Commission for theological dialog between the Catholic and Orthodox churches after their 11th session which ended today.
In short, the sessions did not produce a document on the discussions that were supposed to be a follow-up to the Ravenna document of 2007, because of protests against the dialog by some significant Orthodox groups [why now, after 10 meetings and 20 years of this dialog?] and the decision of the Bulgarian Patriarchate not to take part. Last year, the Russian delegation walked out, but they attended this year.
The statement summarizes what took place this year.
The eleventh meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church took place in Paphos, Cyprus, a city with a rich history, having received three Apostles, Paul, Barnabas and Mark. The meeting took place from 16-23 October 2009, generously and fraternally hosted by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.
Twenty Catholic members were present; several more were unable to attend. All the Orthodox Churches, with the exception of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, were represented, namely the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate of Moscow, the Patriarchate of Serbia, the Patriarchate of Romania, the Patriarchate of Georgia, the Church of Cyprus, the Church of Greece, the Church of Poland, the Church of Albania and the Church of Czech Lands and Slovakia.
The Commission worked under the direction of its two co-presidents, Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metropolitan John of Pergamon, helped by the two co-secretaries, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate) and Monsignor Eleuterio F. Fortino (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity).
At the opening session on Saturday, 17 October, the Commission was welcomed very warmly by the host, Metropolitan Georgios of Paphos, who emphasized the importance of holding the meeting in this apostolic city, famous in the history not only of this island but of the whole of Christianity.
On Saturday, 17 October, the Catholic members celebrated the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Cross, Nicosia, presided over by Cardinal Walter Kasper, in the presence of the Orthodox members.
In his homily he expressed the gratitude of the Catholic Delegation to the Church of Cyprus and especially to Metropolitan Georgios of Paphos for his warm hospitality, and stressed that the spirit of humility and love should prevail in the work of our Joint Commission, emphasizing the words of the Lord: “Whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all” (Mark 10:44).
On Sunday, 18 October, the Orthodox members celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of Phaneromeni, Nicosia, presided over by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos, in the presence of the Catholic members.
In addressing those present, Archbishop Chrysostomos stated: “Together with all the other Orthodox Churches, we underline our firm insistence on the established basic poles of the ecclesiastical conscience of the first thousand years of the historical life of the Church. The Ecumenical Councils and the great Fathers of the first millennium are a guarantee of the authentic theological interpretation of the sacrament of the divine economy in Christ, and of its genuine experience by the faithful in the sacrament of the Church, which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, extends the continuous and living presence of Jesus Christ in the world, until the end of time.”
Afterwards, the co-presidents, Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metropolitan John of Pergamon, together with Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Metropolitan Vasilios of Constantia-Famagusta and Archbishop Roland Minnerath, were welcomed at the Presidential Palace by the President of Cyprus, His Excellency Dimitris Christofias, who expressed his hope for the continuation of this important dialogue in a world still divided, like Cyprus itself, and expressed his good wishes for progress towards communion between the two Churches in the future.
The members of the Commission visited the Byzantine Museum, and had an official lunch at the Archbishopric, offered by H. B. Archbishop Chrysostomos.
During the afternoon, the members paid a visit to the Metochion of Kykkos Monastery and were welcomed very warmly by the Abbot, Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos and Tylliria, and by Metropolitan Isaias of Tamassos and Orini. Later in the evening, Metropolitan Vasilios of Constantia-Famagusta hosted an official dinner at his Metropolitanate in Paralimni.
During the course of the week, the members also visited the Monastery of St. Neophytos and the archaeological sites of St. Paul in Paphos.
On the first day of the meeting, as is customary, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox members met separately to coordinate their work. The Orthodox meeting discussed among other things the negative reactions to the Dialogue by certain Orthodox circles, and unanimously considered them as totally unfounded and unacceptable, providing false and misleading information*.
All Orthodox members of the Commission reaffirmed that the Dialogue continues with the decision of all the Orthodox Churches and is pursued with faithfulness to the Truth and the Tradition of the Church.
The Catholic meeting considered the draft text as a good basis for our work and confirmed the intention to continue the Dialogue with confidence and reciprocal trust, in obedience to the will of the Lord.
As was decided at the last plenary session in Ravenna, 2007, the Commission studied the theme ”The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium”, on the basis of a draft text prepared by the Joint Coordinating Committee, which met in Elounda, Crete, Greece last year.
During this plenary meeting, the Commission carefully considered and amended the draft text of the Joint Coordinating Committee, and decided to complete its work on the text next year, by convening a further meeting of the Joint Commission. No final text has been decided upon, and any text that may be circulated is not valid.
It was decided that the 12th plenary meeting will be hosted by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, in Vienna, Austria, from 20-27 September 2010.
The eleventh plenary session ended with Orthodox Vespers at St. Theodoros’ Cathedral in Paphos, followed by a reception offered by Metropolitan Georgios.
The meeting of the Joint Commission was marked by a spirit of friendship and trustful collaboration. The members of the Commission greatly appreciated the generous hospitality of the Church of Cyprus, and they strongly commend the continuing work of the dialogue to the prayers of the faithful.
Paphos, Cyprus, 22 October 2009.
Here is how a UK Orthodox site reported the Paphos meeting:
This 11th meeting was unsuccessful. This is considered to be a great victory for Orthodoxy. The faithful people, the monks of Mount Athos, priests and monks from around the world, bishops of the Church of Greece and the Church of Serbia, along with the entire Bulgarian Patriarchate have now manifested their opposition to a previous unchecked process which scandalised many orthodox Christians.
*
AsiaNews
reported briefly on this protest on 10/19 in what was, curiously, the only report it has filed so far about the meeting:
Paphos, Oct. 19 (AsiaNews) - The 2nd round of dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox is being held in Paphos (Cyprus) from October 16 to 23. Progress, however, appears a distant goal.
Two days ago, groups of traditionalist Orthodox monks and Orthodox priests from Larnaca interrupted the meeting of the Joint Commission, asking Archbishop Chrisostomos to stop it.
They believe that dialogue between the two Churches is designed to "subjugate the Orthodox to the Pope in Rome".
Yet it is to this very island, a martyred land of ancient Christian traditions, divided by the last wall in Europe, the one between Greece and Turkey, that Benedict XVI will come on a papal visit in June 2010.
[The rest of the article is an interview with Metropolitan Zizoulas, co-chairman with Cardinal Kasper of the Paphos session. I will post it separately.]
I suppose unless one has lived in a predominantly Orthodox country, one does not realize the extent, much less the depth, of animosity that has been inculcated over the centuries among the Orthodox against Roman Catholics, and how they focus this animus on the Pope as the symbol of the Church.
We get carried away by the genuine ecumenical spirit of most of the Orthodox Patriarchs, particularly Bartholomew I, and forget that they have to sell ecumenism and - God forbid, as their faithful might think - reunification with Rome!
This should be sobering for Cardinal Kasper... So, while the cause of ecumenism takes one step forward with the traditional Anglicans, two steps back with the Orthodox.
Paolo Rodari has an 'atmosphere' story, obviously written before the final statement was released:
In Paphos, a Catholic-Orthodox dialog
amid protest and controversy
by Paolo Rodari
Translated from
Oct. 22, 2009
In Paphos, the Cyprus shoreline on whose foam Aphrodite was born, there is the beautiful Hotel St. Georges facing the Mediterranean - swimming pools, spas, private beach, its own golf course, snazzy waiters who sing to the tourists (so many Englishmen) the praises of Famagusta - the center of Mideast cool and hip in the 1970s and now reduced to a ghost of what it was by the Turkish military occupation of northern Cyprus.
In Paphos and at St. Georges, the master of the house is the Orthodox Patriarch of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II. Almost like a dress rehearsal for the much-awaited papal visit next June to the Cyprus south of the last Wall in Europe - that which divides the capital Nicosia into two), the patriarch welcomes his brothers from the various Orthodox Churches and, with them, their Catholic counterparts (60 delegates in all), who make up the mixed commission on theological dialog which was supposed to carry on with the breakthrough achieved in Ravenna two years ago.
Patriarch Chrysostomos with Archbishop Hilarion who led the Moscow delegation to Paphos.
Their purpose is to find reasons that can bring their Churches together again and bring down the barriers built over centuries. Arduous but not impossible, especially not in these days when other Christians separated from Rome - some Anglicans and the Lefebvrians - are nearer now to coming back to Rome than before.
After Ravenna, the objective was to study the ecclesiology of the first millennium of Christianity - before the Great Schism - when there was only one Church, despite some differences between East and West.
The Orthodox Churches are not strangers to disputes - among themlseves. In Ravenna, the Russian delegation threw a fit and walked out before the meeting even begun - so Moscow is not a signatory to the Ravennna document. The walkout was to protest the participation of the Estonian Church, sponsored by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople - bht Moscow considers the Estonian church to be under its Patriarchate.
Russia is back in the Paphos talks, but it's not necessarily a crossed bridge. Disagreements have always been the order of the day, according to Metropolitan Zizoulias of Pergamon.
Co-president of the Mixed Commission with Cardinal Walter Kasper, eminent theologian and charismatic figure, Zizoulias points out it happens on both sides. Not just in the Orthodox world, he says, but even in the Catholic church, there are people who engage in "excessive dogmatic rationalism and do not wish anything to change".
Harsh words. Which seem to be a reference to Benedict XVI's decision to drop the title Patriarch of the West - something that many of the Orthodox Churches have not taken well.
[I think the reasoning was that by getting rid of the West-delimited title, Benedict was, in fact, affirming papal primacy over both East and West.]
Paphos. It also has traditionalist Orthodox monks, joined these days by priests from Larnaka, another Cypriot city, who demonstrated against the Catholic-Orthodox meeting, and called on Patriarch Chrysostomos to put a halt to it. They claim that the dialog is aimed solely at 'subordinating Orthodoxy to the Pope of Rome".
This is an argument that has also been used by the monks of Mt. Athos, who have protested to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople that he is surrendering to Rome on the matter of Petrine primacy.
But the Petrine primacy - the question which Ravenna had directed to be further studied by considering the history of the first millennium - is not the only point in question by the opponents of the dialog. Ecumenism itself is being questioned. As a heresy!
[I am still puzzled why these objections have never been reported before in the Western press. But of course, these theological dialogs have scarcely been covered. .]
Zizoulias told AsiaNews: "On the part of all the Orthodox who are taking part in the ecumenical dialog, there is no deviation from any article of faith. To know how to dialog with someone who has a different belief does not make one a heretic. Dialog has nothing to hide, and we still have a long way to go."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/02/2010 00:40]